Since you are from San Diego, another great resource is Adventure 16. It's a great store with lots of friendly and helpful staff. They sometimes have gear clinics, and if you don't have boots already, highly recommend A16 for boot fitting/shopping.
It's not a blow cost store, but they have rentals and sometimes sell the used rental gear at great price.
Here's the store web site;
http://www.adventure16.com/
